John Arts Abundant Living www.johnarts.co.nz

Some years ago I suffered badly from tendon inflammation in my hand which was swollen, painful and had very little strength.

I had a carpal tunnel operation which released some pressure but did not solve the problem. I had about 20 per cent use of my hand and I remember muttering to myself that I may as well cut it off. It wasn't a serious thought but the problem was so bad that some radical hand surgery was booked.

Prior to surgery I decided to make sure I had exhausted every non-invasive option first. I went on the most intensive anti-inflammatory programme I could think of. This included high dose Omega 3 fish oils, a range of antioxidants including 500+mg of flavanols, trace minerals and a complex of other natural anti-inflammatory compounds. After three months the hand had improved to the point I postponed then later cancelled the surgery and now have 100 per cent use of my hand.

The recovery was slow and probably took two years before most of the symptoms had gone. As a consequence I now adopt a very anti-inflammatory diet and regime of supplements. The best lessons in life are those that you learn from experience. What this taught me was to always try the least invasive options first before turning to higher risk options, which in this case was an operation with an uncertain outcome.

In many cases our body is unable to heal because the disease in blocking our healing processes. Usually local tissue immune cells are in a permanent inflammatory state pumping a cocktail of inflammatory chemicals into damaged tissue. In my case tendon inflammation in my hand could not heal because my immune system was effectively at war with my tendon sheaths, producing massive amounts of inflammation with excess fluid, heat, swelling, stiffness and pain. The only way to start my hand healing was to shut down this chaotic immune response and allow tissues to start to behave normally.

If you have an unresponsive health problem it is worth getting some advice. Nutritional therapy is usually very complementary with orthodox medicine. The great news is that these options are often the least invasive and can give surprising results. Give me a call if you need help. To join my weekly newsletter go to www.johnarts.co.nz and visit www.abundant.co.nz

John Arts is the founder of Abundant Health. To contact John phone (local) 578 9051 or 0800 423 559.